The Organ Games

Chapter 5

Berth sat in her living room, her hands still clutching her handgun. She kept staring at the watch. Her invitation was expiring in thirty minutes. The thought of the game being real and getting replaced was what was eating her up. 

The strange lady was right. It was all her fault that her child was faceless and lying in the next room, hiding from the cruel world. The thought of it made her tear up as she held onto her handgun.

She had nothing to lose by playing the game, she thought to herself. She would jump to the end of the world for her daughter, but yet there she was counting the minutes away. 

Yes, there was a big chance the games were fake, but the pity was on the lady and not her. 

She began questioning what type of mother she was. On second thought, the offer appeared to be too good to be true.

There were a lot of questions in her mind that needed clarification. If there was anything she learned in life, it was that nothing was for free. Was she willing to close the line if things went south? She thought to herself.

But on second thought, she was willing to open the graves for her daughter.

 She grabbed her phone and dialed the woman's line but got no response. She looked at her watch. Five minutes was all she had left. But the woman at the end of the line was not picking up. She needed to find out if a player was allowed to quit the game at any point in time before accepting the invitation.

The clock began ticking down; five minutes, four, three, two, and all the way to the seconds. But she got no response. She decided to ring it for the last time at the last second when Acer picked her up, congratulated her for entering the game at the last second, and hung up without giving her the chance to ask the questions. 

Berth dialed the number again but was sent to voicemail. "What the fuck!" she yelled. She tried again but couldn't get through. She looked at the time, which was past noon. The stupid woman couldn't even allow her to formally accept the game in her own words. Out of frustration, she sent an insulting message to Acer, but not even the message got through.

 It appeared like the strange woman blocked her, which did not make sense. A second ago, she was sure the woman congratulated her for accepting the invitation. She was confused for a minute. Maybe she missed the deadline, she thought to herself as she kept looking at her watch, which was past noon.

She was only snapped out of her thoughts by her daughter's voice. She quickly put away the gun and phone. She had not made any food for her daughter since the morning. Her mind had been occupied with the time that was ticking away. 

She quickly ran to the kitchen and began preparing some food for her daughter to eat. She decided to forget about the woman and her stupid games. She was obviously some sicko who decided to play a prank on her. 

On the other side, Acer was in her room dancing. She managed to get all fifty acceptances into the game from the fifty states around the country. But her celebration was short-lived. She needed to leave the country for her safety as part of the rules.

She made all the arrangements and quickly packed her belongings. Soon the shit was going to start dropping and she needed to be as far away as possible. She called a taxi and was headed to the airport in minutes, heading out of the country. 

In hours, she was in Paris, just in time for her to send an alert message for the packages to be delivered to the players. It was time for the first games to begin. She first settled in, poured herself a glass of wine, and sent a message for all the packages to be delivered.

She sat in front of a big screen that was televising all the participants in the game from their private homes and workplaces.

Just like her employers, she had a front-row seat to all the games. Most of them were fast asleep, while some were just getting up, unaware of how fucked up their lives were about to get.

One of the early risers was 78-year-old George from Alabama, whose wife required a kidney. The old man was one of the last contestants to accept an invitation into the game.

 He had gone against everything that he believed in and was willing to do anything in order to get his wife that kidney. He had not slept for the entire night. He was eager to get done with the games and win. So he woke up early and washed up. He prayed his rosary and made himself breakfast before sitting in his kitchen waiting like a five-year-old.

 He was eager to play, somehow excited at the possibility that he was going to save his wife. His beliefs and the government had failed him. He was left with no option but to make a deal with the devil. He was one of the few contestants that believed the games were not as innocent as Acer made them seem.

He knew he was going to lose more than his faith, and he could only hope God would understand.

At exactly 8 a.m., the doorbell rang, and he raced to the door, opening it but finding no one at the door. He looked both to his left and right, but there was no one there. He was about to close the door when he noticed a white box on the doorstep. 

He slowly picked it up and took it with him inside. He knew it was from the beautiful lady that allowed him to take part in the games. He nicknamed her the "dark angel." He had told his wife that the devil had sent an angel to them. His wife was shocked, but she too had lost faith and only stared at him.

He quickly opened the box, and inside it was a phone. He switched it on and a message popped up instructing him to open a folder on the front screen.

He clicked it open and a lot of files popped up. He opened one, and on top of the file was the official invitation to the Organ games and contract. The old man perused through the forms without reading them and went straight to the signature part and signed them. 

He did not mind what he was signing; all he wanted was the kidney. He had reached a point where he was willing to sell his soul for his wife.

After he was done, he clicked send, and a congratulatory message popped up, requesting him to sit back and wait for the next instructions. 

On the other side, in Washington, David knew the complications of not reading a document before signing it. He had woken up to the sound of the doorbell. He had picked up the white box and was now seated on his sofa going through the contract for the game. 

He was not a lawyer, but even a lawyer could have had trouble understanding the terms. The English sounded too old, like it was from the Victorian era. And most of the words he had to g****e, but they had confusing definitions or different meanings in the modern English language.

The more he read the contract, the more he confused himself. 

Most of the participants that read the contract found it difficult to understand too, but they had the notion that they would be replaced if they did not sign the contract. They needed the organs for their loved ones.

 The only thing most of them understood was the change in their names; they were to be addressed by the state they resided in. Most of them figured out they were playing with people from other states. George's new name was Alabama, David's was Washington, Berth was Texas, Caroline was Louisiana, and so on. 

Caroline from Louisiana was the second to sign without stressing the need to understand what she was signing. She was as desperate as Alabama. But Texas and Washington were among the last two to sign. 

Texas was surprised that she even received a package after being blocked the previous day. She thought she was out of the game. She stared at the phone thoughtlessly. None of what she was reading was making sense, but she did not want to agree at the last second like the previous day. 

She had not slept the entire night, beating herself for missing an opportunity to change her daughter's life. She quickly signed it without a second thought and waited for the instructions. 

David was the last to sign, even though he had second thoughts. As soon as he clicked send, the phone rang, and at the end of the line was a familiar voice: Acer. 

Most of the participants had a lot of questions, but she ignored them and kept welcoming them to the game.

"If you are hearing me, then it means you have successfully been accepted into the second edition of the Organ Games. An opportunity to save a loved one," she kept announcing and emphasizing the last part. 

The participants on the other side of the line kept asking questions, ignoring her announcement. There were a lot of questions that needed answers.

 This infuriated Acer, prompting her to press the red button on her phone, which activated sound waves in all of the contestants' phones, sending a glitching, high-pitched sound into their ears.